Fire-door apparatus.



J. L. MOHUNL FIRE DOOR APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED'MAR. 6. 1914.

1,235,227. A Patented July 31, 191.7.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

WITNESSES v INVENTOR Wm L h a W I ATTOR EY J.L. MOHUN.

FIRE DOOR APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAR. s, 1914.

1,235,227. Patented July 31, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES INVENTOR WWI/Q j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L- lVIOl-IUN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO FRANKLIN RAILWAY SUPPLY COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION OF DELA- WARE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 31, 1917.

Application filed March 6, 1914. Serial No. 822,854.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN L. MOHUN, of the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in F ire-Door Apparatus, of which improvement the following is a specification.

This invention relates to furnace doors, and to fluid pressure means for operating the same, and more particularly to such fire door apparatus adapted to be used on locomotive boiler furnaces.

In the modern locomotive there are many auxiliary devices mounted on, or in close proximity to, the back head of the boiler, so that available space for the movement of the fire doors in opening is very limited, and it is sometimes difficult to find sufficient space to operate horizontally sliding or vertically sliding doors or doors that swing laterally and vertically, without interfering with other objects or devices mounted in the locomotive cab in close proximity to the fire door, and one of the obj ects of this invention is to provide an improved fire door apparatus in which the door shall have an upward movement in opening, the upper portion of the door swinging outwardly, while the lower portion or edge thereof slides vertically or substantially parallel with the face of the door frame. In this way the door may be readily raised to its full open position with the minimum movement of the operat ing shaft and without requiring any additional clear space on the boiler head around said door.

Another feature of my invention comprises an improved single acting fluid pressure motor located at the side of the door for oscillating the door shaft, and having an inclosed crank casing.

These and other features will now be more fully described in detail, and the points of novelty will be set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of a fire door apparatus embodying my improvement, a portion of the crank casing being indicated in section Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a similar section taken on the line 3+3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 1, a transverse section of the shaft taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1, and showing the pawl; Fig. 5, a transverse section of the shaft taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1, and showing the connection between the shaft and the supporting arm in two diflerent positions.

According to the construction shown in the drawings, my improved device is applied to a locomotve boiler, and comprises a door .frame, 7, bolted to the back head, 8, of the boiler around the door opening, the frame being provided with brackets, 9, carrying the bearings for the horizontal shaft, 10, above the door opening, and on which are mounted the vertically swinging arms, 11, of which there may be one or more, supporting the door, 12. Two of these arms, 11, are preferably employed, one at each side, the arms being bent out around the side of the door, in order to economize space, and pivotally connected thereto by means of trunnions, 13, preferably located at a point below the upper edge or portion of the door. The lower portion or edge of the door is provided with projections or pins, 14:,engaging the guides, 15, formed upon the door frame, the guides being preferably substantially parallel with the plane of the door opening in the frame, whereby the lower edge of the door is guided to slide substantially vertically upon the frame during the opening and closing movements of the door. As the arms, 11, swing vertically upward by the oscillation of the shaft, the door is raised and the upper portion thereof swings outward to the open position, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3.

A handle, 16, may be provided for manually operating the door, and for the purpose of holding the door at a partially open or full open position, a notched ring. or ratchet wheel, 17, may be fixed on the sh'aft,.1-0, and

cooperate with a weighted pawl, 18, pivoted upon the frame.

The arms, 11, may be mounted on the shaft in any desired manner, but in order that the door may be securely latched at its upper edge when closed, the locking flange, 19, on the upper edge of the door, is designed to engage the flange,20, on-the.frame by a vertical sliding movement, and for the purpose of thus moving the door to release the latch, at the beginning of the opening movement, the shaft, 10, is provided with tongue, 21, extending laterally within an elongated recess or opening, 22, in the end of each of the swinging arms, 11, as shown more particularly in Fig. 5. By means of this construction, the preliminary movement of the shaft from its closed position, indicated at the left in Fig. 5, to the position shown at the right, serves to lift said arms without swinging, and thereby slide the entire door vertically a sufficient distance to release the latch. The further movement of the shaft swings said arms vertically upward, and opens the door as before described.

According to another feature of my improvement, I provide a fluid pressure motor for operating the door; and comprising a substantially vertical cylinder, 23, supported at the side of the door upon the frame, and containing a trunk piston, 24, connected by pitman, 25, to a crank, 26, on the shaft, 10. The pitman and crank are inclosed within a casing, 27, which is formed continuously with the upper end of the cylinder, and excludes all dirt and dust from the working parts. WVhen the door is closed, the piston is at the bottom of the cylinder, and the crank occupies a position substantially at right angles to the pitman, as shown in Fig. 2.

To operate the door by power, fluid under pressure, such as steam or compressed air is admitted by any suitable valve means (not shown), through a pipe or passage leading into the lower end of the cylinder beneath the piston, which is thereby driven upward, and turns the shaft, 10, to raise the door to its full open position, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 3. l/Vhen the parts start from the closed position the power of the piston is acting with its maximum effective leverage through the crank arm 26, toward turning the shaft and raising the door, while the weight of the latter at the same time is opposing this movement with its minimum effective leverage through the arms 11, which extend nearly vertically downward from the shaft. As the parts move toward and approach the full open position, however, it will be seen that the effective leverage of the crank arm is constantly diminish ing while that of the door arms is continually increasing until the crank reaches its upper dead center which limits the movement at the full open position. Under these conditions the latter part of the movement will be automatically retarded and the parts brought to rest without shock or jar at the full open position.

When it is desired to close the door the inlet valve is closed and the exhaust opened to release fluid from the cylinder, and the weight of the door, which is then acting with maximum leverage through the arms 11, promptly turns the shaft and crank and moves the piston downward, forcing the fluid out through the exhaust, and bringing the parts to rest without shock or jar in the closed position. The device thus oper ates easily and noiselessly in both directions.

When it is desired to admit a draft of air to the fire box for reducing the smoke from the stack, the door may be raised by the handle, and the pawl inserted in the first notch of the ratchet, to hold the door partially open. In this position, the door is slightly inclined outward at its upper edge so that the current of air is directed along the surface of the door in a downward direct-ion, as it enters the fire box, thereby keeping the door cool, and preventing the cold draft from discharging directly toward the fire tubes. If, when the door stands in this partially open position, fluid pressure is admitted to the cylinder to operate the door by power, the piston. readily moves upward and raises the door to its full open position, the weighted pawl being thus released from its notch drops out of engagement, and does not interfere with the normal operation of the door. hen, however, the pawl is set in the last notch of the ratchet with the door full open and the piston at the upper end of its stroke, the admission of fluid to the cylinder will have no efiect toward moving the mechanism or releasing the pawl, and the door then remains latched in its full open position until released by hand.

For the purpose of lubricating the moving parts of the motor, there is provided at the upper end of the closed crank chamber, an oil chamber, 28, having a discharge opening over the crank, 26, and pitman, 25, and adapted to lubricate the bearings of these parts, and also to drain downward through said casing, and lubricate the piston in the cylinder. By this means all of the moving parts are kept thoroughly lubricated and free from dust and dirt.

It will now be apparent that my improved fire door may be readily applied to any locomotive as the space occupied is practically the same as that of an ordinary hand door, and the movement of the door does not interfere with other devices that may be supported on the boiler head. When the door is closed, the upper edge is securely locked by means of the latch flange, and the bottom of the door is held by means of the projecting pins beneath the guides so that the door can hardly be blown open in case of a burst boiler flue, and the possibility of the locomotive crew being scalded or otherwise injured in the event of an accident of this character is thereby greatly reduced.

As the device has few parts, and is light and simple in construction and operation, the cost of manufacture installation and maintenance is comparatively small,

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door, a vertically swinging arm mounted on a horizontal axis above said door and pivotally connected thereto a guide for the lower portion of said door, and a latch at the upper edge thereof for attaching the same to the door frame in its closed position, said arm having a connection for effecting a preliminary vertical movement of the door to release the latch.

2. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door, a frame therefor, a horizontal shaft mounted above said door, vertically swinging arms mounted on said shaft and pivotally connected to said door at a point below the upper edge thereof, guides for the lower edge of said door and a latch at the upper edge thereof for attaching the same to the door frame in its closed position, said arms having a connection operated by the movement of the shaft for releasing the latch.

3. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door frame, a door having a vertical sliding and swinging movement, a latch for holding the door against the frame in the closed position, a guide on said frame for the lower portion of the door, a connection for effecting a preliminary vertical sliding movement of the door for releasing the latch, and means for further raising the dOOr and swinging the upper edge outward from the frame to the open position.

4. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door frame, a door having a vertical sliding and swinging movement, a latch for holding the door against the frame in the closed position, and an operating connection having means operated by its pre liminary movement to slide the door vertically to release the latch, and by its further movement to rais the door and swing the upper portion outward to the open position.

5. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door having a latch operated by the vertical sliding movement of the door, a horizontal shaft mounted above said door, a vertically swinging arm connected to the door and mounted with a tongue and recess connection on said shaft for effecting a preliminary vertical sliding movement of said door.

6. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door, a horizontal shaft mounted above said door, a vertically swinging arm mounted on said shaft and connected to the door, a motor cylinder and piston for actuating said shaft, a ratchet mounted on the shaft, and a counter weighted pawl for said ratchet, said counterweight normally tending to disengage said pawl.

7. In a fire door apparatus, the combination of a door, a frame, a horizontal shaft mounted above the door, vertically swinging arms mounted on said shaft and connected to the door, said arms being adapted to swing up to a substantially horizontal position with the weight of the door acting with maximum leverage upon said arms in the full open position, a crank on said shaft, a vertical cylinder mounted at the side of the door, a piston in said cylinder, and a rod connecting the piston and said crank and arranged to reach its upper dead center position substantially in line with the axis of the cylinder, at the full open position of said door.

JOHN L. MOHUN.

Witnesses:

C. E. FLODNIE, C. DOWING.

Copies 0; this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

